Background: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded its hearing into Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent. The following is the statement of Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“It is plainly obvious from the hearing that Comcast's actions in throttling consumer use of a legal application like BitTorrent are indefensible. A number of witnesses made the point that there are legitimate ways to manage networks according to accepted network standards, and ways not to manage networks. Comcast's clearly sidestepped normal network practice while violating the FCC's policy guidelines for a non-discriminatory Internet.
“We hope the Commission will act swiftly on the petition we, Free Press and others have filed to make clear that such behavior will not be tolerated, and that an open, non-discriminatory Internet must be preserved.
“The hearing was also valuable for pointing out the appalling lack of competition in the broadband market. Whether it was Professor Yochai Benkler talking about how the rest of the world is leaving us behind, or state Rep. David Bosley of Massachusetts talking about the dearth of services in western Massachusetts, it was evident that a new broadband policy is needed to spur real competition that will benefit consumers.”
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.